Red – The Color of Romance!
Scarlet, Crimson, Torch Red, Lipstick Red, Red Rose, Paint the Town Red, Red Hot, Red Handed, Candy Apple Red, Fire Engine Red, Blood Red, Red Letter Day, Red Bull. Red is not passive or fluffy. Red is attention-getting. Red is assertive. Red is action and energy. Red is powerful.
The psychology of color has long been studied. In 1810 Goethe wrote The Theory of Colours. He realized the importance of color and theorized that perception was universal and objective. Max Luscher, in 1947, realized that color could reveal much about personality. He created a color test used by psychiatrists and psychologists. There have since been many theories and studies about the psychological effects of color. A study by researchers at the University of Rochester, published in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that a flash of red light impaired intellectual performance during test-taking. The research found that red is associated with how errors are marked on school papers and thus the flash of red was associated with failures and mistakes.
Psychological studies of color are sometimes disputed because the impact of various factors such as culture, age or gender has not been isolated. It is clear that colors often have different meanings or connotations in different cultures. Red, for example is traditionally worn by brides in China but has been banned from clothing stores in Israel. It is also evident that colors can have both positive and negative associations within a culture. In our culture red is associated with love: red valentines and red roses and also with alarm: flashing red lights and code red.
It is clear that color can impact our mood and our emotions. Some of the influence may be universal, some cultural, but certainly there is also an individual reaction to color.
